Media discs disposed in beverage cup lids have become an increasingly popular method of, for example, advertising or offering premiums to buyers of the beverage. Such beverages may, for example, be coffee, soft drinks, or soup. The media disc can be a miniature CD or DVD disc. The patron purchases a drink in the cup and retrieves the media disc from the lid thereof. The media disc can then be played on portable equipment and/or taken to the patron's home, vehicle or work place for later playing.
Problems however arise with conventional lids that have compartments for retaining media, particularly when the lids are used for drink cups or other containers containing beverages. Typically, the lid is configured with a opening, such as a pair of crossed slits, for receiving a straw. When a straw is inserted through the slits, liquid can seep through the slits and into the lid compartment, thereby damaging the contents therein, perhaps rendering the contents unusable. Indeed, seepage through the slits is virtually inevitable if the portion of the lid in which the slits are formed is disposed near the level of the beverage. In such a case, downward displacement of the lid as a result of the initial insertion of the straw through the slits typically submerges the slits within the beverage causing substantial seepage through the slits.
In cases where the lid compartment is at or below the level of the cup lip, the volume of this compartment actually displaces the interior volume of the cup and thus upon attachment of the lid would cause substantial spillage in a fully filled beverage. Moreover, customers at quick service restaurants and the like usually prefer beverages to be filled to the brim. With the beverage filled to the brim, substantial seepage or spillage can occur upon insertion of the straw or attachment of the lid itself causing considerable annoyance to the customer and extra work for the restaurant staff mopping up the spilled beverages. To avoid this problem, beverage cups are often filled only to a specified level well below the brim of the cup. In restaurants where the cup is automatically filled, automatic filling devices therefore need to be properly set and monitored to ensure that the beverage does not exceed the specified level. If the cup is manually filled by the staff, the staff therefore needs to constantly remember to fill the cup only to the specified level. Furthermore, in many quick service restaurants, the customers fill their own beverage cups, thereby permitting re-fills by the customer. The customers are often not aware that filling the cup to the brim will cause subsequent spillage and, hence, the customers typically overfill the cups resulting in frequent and substantial spillage in the vicinity of the beverage dispensers.
In general, a substantial risk of seepage or spillage occurs if either the crossed slits of the closure or the compartment itself are positioned such that, when the closure is mounted to the drink container, the slits on the bottom of the compartment are positioned at or below the top perimeter edge of the drink container. Unfortunately, prior art compartment closures for drink containers are typically configured to position both the crossed slits and the bottom of the compartment well below the top perimeter edge of the drink container. These prior art beverage lids allow leakage into the compartment.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,070,752 to Nava et al. addressed the leakage problem by raising the straw entry openings by providing a raised portion within which the crossed slits are formed. The slits are thereby disposed, in use, well above the level of any liquid within the drink container such that, even with a straw inserted through the slits, it is highly unlikely during normal use of the cup that any liquid from within the cup will pass though the slits and into the compartment. Hence, contents within the compartment are substantially protected from contamination by the liquid even if the cup is initially filled to the brim and even if significant downward displacement of the closure occurs upon insertion of the straw. However, this results in a lid that rises high above the beverage.
Additionally, many conventional lids are bulky and cannot be loaded automatically. Also, sealing with RF or adhesives to prevent leakage is expensive and often unattractive.